Fair use

Haley Bylina, Phoebe Glimm, Kiana Hobbs, Limariz Rebolledo June 14, 2015 Period: 5 Should Susie Smythe Be Sued? Susie Smythe, a high school teacher from New York, reads a class-sourced novel called The Absolutely Awesome Adventures of Internet Ed. She decides to copy the plot, and even plagiarizes a chapter, within her own classroom’s book called The Mind-Blowing Travels of Fairuse Frieda. Consequently, she sells the book on amazon.com, with no acknowledgement of the original authors or inspiration, and donates all the profits to her school’s non-profit organization. Using the research and point of view of various sources from Stanford University, Plagiarism Today, and Pearson Writing Center, the suing of Susie Smythe would not be necessary for this particular situation. The concepts of fair-use and copy infringement have contributed to this decision. Due to the definition of fair use, Mr.Rehak has no right to sue Susie Smythe. Judgement on deciding whether a case is “fair use” or not uses the four factors listed in section 107 of the Copyright Act (Teaching Copyright). One of the factors that judges will take into account is whether or not the new work is for commercial use. Here, Susie Smythe, is not using the new book for commercial uses but rather donates any profits to her non-profit school (Pearson). Another factor to take into account is the amount that was taken from the original copy in relation to the whole new book. She does in fact take one, word by word copy of the chapter of the original but, in comparison to the whole book, it’s really not a big amount. Copying nearly all of the original book would weigh against her use of fair use, but since she only used one chapter of twenty-two, she really has nothing against her. The most evident factor to be taken into Bylina, Glimm, Hobbs, Rebolledo 2 consideration is, what effect of the use of the original book’s idea has on the potential market. Since she has not ‘replaced’ the original book from the market with her version, she has no reason to be sued. It could be argued that since Susie Smythe copied the plot and plagiarized a complete chapter from the novel therefore, it was not fair use. Susie Smythe used a chapter, word for word, from the novel The Absolutely Awesome Adventures of Internet Ed. Her only edit was changing the name Ed to Freida. Susie gave no recognition to the original author, which clarifies her act as plagiarism. According to Plagiarism Today, “Plagiarizing works in the public domain, though unethical, is not considered copyright infringement.” Thus not requiring legal action. It could also be argued that since Susie Smythe ripped off an entire chapter her use was not fair. However, she used the chapter and the book as a whole for a nonprofit educational purpose. In an article written by Jonathan Bailey, it is stated that “if the material was used for nonprofit educational purposes, it is fair use” (Plagiarism Today). This is apparent in Susie Smythe’s situation. The money earned from the book was all donated to her school’s non-profit organization. It is clear that there are no solid grounds on which to sue Susie Smythe. The evidence shows that Susie Smythe donated the profits from the book to her non-profit school, concluding that it was not used for commercial purposes. It also shows that she plagiarized a very small portion of the book, only one chapter. It has been clearly stated that plagiarism is not considered copyright infringement. Since the evidence does not provide reasons of advantage to take legal action, Mr. Rehak deems it unnecessary to sue Susie Smythe. Bylina, Glimm, Hobbs, Rebolledo 3 Works Cited Bailey, Jonathan. "Copyright Infringement, Plagiarism and Fair Use."Plagiarism Today. Plagiarism Today, 06 Oct. 2005. Web. 14 June 2015. Stim, Rich. "What Is Fair Use?" Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center What Is Fair Use Comments. Stanford University, 04 Apr. 2013. Web. 14 June 2015. "Teaching Copyright." Fair Use Frequently Asked Questions. Teaching Copyright, n.d. Web. 14 June 2015. "Welcome to the Companion Website for Professional Writing Online 3.0."Professional Writing Online. Pearson, 2012. Web. 14 June 2015.